There Cannot Be Climate Justice Without Gender Justice

Mar 27, 2024 | Mehmet B. Bulut
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Climate change and its impacts are gendered. Cyclone Gorky, which hit Bangladesh in 1991, caused around 140,000 deaths, of which 90% were women. Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar in 2008 killed twice as many women than men in the worst affected places. During the 2022 heatwaves in Europe, 56% more women died than men. 

UN Women and UNICEF reports that the level of economic, political and cultural power held by women and gender minorities [1] before a disaster directly impacts their suffering both during and in the aftermath.  

As governments, organisations and corporations from around the world celebrate Women’s History Month this March, the reality is that in practice many women and gender minorities are still not treated equally to men and face more barriers to accessing positions of power and decision making power, through which they have the opportunity to bring change with their perspectives, lived experience and skills.